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Zherlitsa – tackle, which is designed for catching live bait without hooking and the presence of the fisherman on the spot. The zherlitsa is homemade and purchased. Since its design is quite simple, anglers often make their own.
Zherlitsy for pike: features of work
Pike is the most common trophy for bait fishing both in summer and winter. Often, neither spinning, nor track, nor winter lure are able to bring the results that live bait fishing brings to this simple tackle. This happens for the following reasons:
- Live bait is the natural food of pike. The behavior of a live fish provokes a pike to attack much better than the game of a spinner or other bait.
- The bite occurs in the absence of the angler on the spot. Consequently, there are fewer frightening factors: noise, the shadow of a rod on the water, bunnies on the water from glasses
- Pike is not a schooling fish. Spinning, lure fishing can be successful when it is possible to find a flock of fish in this way and catch it for a long time. A zherlitsa, standing in a certain place, with the same probability can cause a bite, as well as catching the water area with a spinning rod.
- Pike hunting almost always takes place in strong places, among snags, water thickets. It is often impossible to fish with anything else here, except for live bait gear.
- In the summer, this fish hunts along the coastal strip, near the border of algae, which makes the installation of vents from the shore a very effective way of summer fishing.
- The nature of the vent operation, when the predator, after a bite, is able to reel off a little fishing line and move away, makes it possible to catch pike well. Usually she catches the live bait across, then moves away a little, turns it in her mouth and swallows it from her head. With this method, you can not do an instant cut, and the vent often cuts a hungry fish by itself, giving few gatherings.
The nature of pike hunting is such that it is usually found in thickets of aquatic plants, snags, on the border of the thermocline, in the shade of bushes, lying on a dark bottom – wherever it is difficult to notice it in the water from afar, where visibility is reduced due to the nature of the passage of sunlight. Usually these are places where you can find a lot of small fish nearby. The pike lies in ambush and waits for some fish to be close enough, or moves very slowly so as not to arouse suspicion.
Once in the zone of a throw to the prey, the pike turns in this direction with the whole body and corrects the distance, looking at the fish with both eyes. This is followed by a short powerful throw. It is so fast that even a high-speed underwater camera is often unable to capture it well. Throwing distance – no more than two or three meters. After that, the pike returns to its original position, where it swallows the prey.
The zherlitsa for pike involves a design that has some stock of fishing line for free descent. Usually no more than three meters. Such a reserve allows you to catch a predator without the participation of an angler and does not require instant hooking. The pike has the ability to swallow the fish without feeling the resistance of the stretched line, otherwise it can spit it out.
At the same time, you should not give too much stock. The fact is that the fish, having pricked on hooks, can run away under a snag, confuse the fishing line on the bottom grass, rhizomes of bushes, reinforcement of old piles, etc. This can lead to loss of prey. In addition, having swallowed the hooks into the stomach, such a fish may not get off the hook even if entangled and die, as a result, the reservoir will be polluted and the fish will start to get sick. It is worth at least roughly estimating the distance to the nearest serious snags and giving such a margin so that the pike cannot confuse the line there.
Summer zherlitsa-postavusha
Traditionally, pike have been caught from time immemorial on a summer postavushu. It was a flyer like the one from which we made slingshots at school. A fishing line is wound around the flyer with a figure eight, and at one of its ends an incision is made with a knife. A fishing line is inserted into it in such a way that the live bait cannot pull it out, but the pike can. A piece of string is tied to the “handle” of the flyer. With it, it is attached to the base of the girders – a peg, a pole, reeds, hanging bushes or other objects near the water, of natural or artificial origin. The main thing is that it should not be tied tightly, but hung on a free segment of this towline above the water.
At the time of the bite, the pike grabs the live bait and begins to pull the line. Under force, she jumps out of the tuck and rolls off the flyer. The figure-of-eight winding prevents the line from tangling, which often happens when inertialess reels such as bottles and tubes are used instead. The fishing line can simply fall off with such a time and a beard is formed. Subsequently, the pike stops and swallows the live bait, falling on the hook. The signal to the angler is the sound of unwinding the fishing line, but more often the fish hooks itself, and it is only necessary to check the vents from time to time, remove the pike and change the live bait.
You can find a lot of variants of this vent. Anglers make them from pipes, plastic cups and small plastic bottles instead of slingshots. Of course, it is easier for a city dweller to find them than to look for an even slingshot on the shore and come to the reservoir in advance with prepared gear, and not waste time fishing to equip vents. In addition, most of these devices can be fixed fixedly, just to ensure the fishing line comes off. Often they do this: they put a wooden stake into the water with a piece of a Ø50 mm PVC pipe screwed to it for plumbing, a small plastic bottle through a cork, etc. At the moment of a bite, the fish pulls the fishing line out of the pinch and unwinds it from an impromptu reel of inertialess type. They are caught on hooks in the summer and until late autumn.
Sometimes there are options when the zherlitsa does not have a reel at all. Usually these are postavushi with a sinker, when the live bait is held at the bottom. The line slack here is initially set in the form of sag to the sinker. The predator grabs the live bait, tears off the load from the bottom and chooses the slack.
winter zherlitsa
For pike fishing, such tackle works in the same way as summer tackle. The live bait is on a hook or tackle, which is intended for notching fish, the fishing line is in a pinch, from which he is not able to pull it out, and the pike is. On the vent there is a free supply of fishing line about one and a half to two meters, usually on a reel, so that the pike, having taken the live bait, has the opportunity to move away without resistance and swallow it.
Also, a special signaling flag is often placed on the winter vent. It is usually mounted on a clock spring about half a meter long. Often, he also plays the role of a pinch, tightening the reel and preventing the live bait from winding the line. When biting, the spring is released, the flag pops up and can be seen far away on the white ice. The angler runs up, hooks the fish and pulls it out onto the ice through the hole.
The design of winter vents is subject to such a requirement as frost resistance. For example, it is performed on a wide plate stand. With its help, the vent is placed over the hole, closing it, and covered with snow from above. As a result, the fishing line under it does not freeze into the ice, and the vent can remain in one place for a long time even in severe frost. The flag, coil and other parts must be made simply and reliably, maybe even rough, so that even if a little ice has frozen on them, there are gaps for their normal operation. The fishing line is also taken not the thinnest, so that it can be released with a jerk if it is a little frozen. And a thick fishing line usually freezes more slowly into the edge than a thin one, which immediately clings to the cold ice edge in severe frost.
The described option is usually bought in a store. Such a vent on a stand-plate is inexpensive and allows you to fish quite effectively. But there are other options for winter vents that allow you to fish on live bait. They can be made by yourself. For example – a simple vent made of a piece of plastic pipe with a cross, an underwater vent.
Bracket made from a piece of plastic pipe
For a vent from a piece of plastic pipe, in fact, a piece of such a pipe 50-70 cm long is needed. Holes are made in it through which a wire is passed near one of the ends of such a vent. Two pieces of wire are used according to the type of reinforcing wire, not thinner than 3-4 mm. The result is a pipe, at one end of which two pieces of wire are stuck crosswise. The other end rests freely on the ice. It turns out that the pipe lies in front of the hole, leaning near it on the cross, and the other end behind on the ice.
A fishing line is wound on the free end of the pipe after the cross. This end is an analogue of the rogula in the summer vent. The fishing line is fixed in a pinch made with a knife on the edge of the pipe, or not fixed at all, since the live bait in the normal state is not able to pull it off. When biting, the fish grabs the live bait, pulls the line, turns the bait upside down and drags it into the hole. Falling through the ice is prevented by a crosspiece made of wire that rises across it. There is a free supply of fishing line on the pipe, which allows the fish to move away and swallow the live bait. The fisherman sees a vent turned upside down from a distance, runs to it and hooks the fish. Often the pipe itself is painted in bright colors for better visibility, so that it can be seen against the background of white snow.
The main disadvantage of such a vent is the complete insecurity of the fishing line from freezing. It will be impossible to catch it in the cold, the fishing line will be in a crust on the surface of the hole in 20-30 minutes and the work of the gear will be disrupted. There are also difficulties in regulating the softness of the work. Pike in winter can have soft bites, when she carefully takes the fish and almost does not leave the spot. At the same time, efforts to turn the zherlitsa will not be enough.
The second variant of manufacturing
The second option for a home-made vent is a method when it is made like a summer one, based on a flyer or other replacement device, and is attached to a support on a string. The flyer in this case is under water, and the end of the string is attached to a stick that lies across the hole. Even if the towline freezes, it can be easily cut out of the ice without much damage. With a thin line, this will not work. The disadvantage of this vent is the complete absence of a bite signaling device, it is unflagged. The notch of the fish occurs by unauthorized fishing, because of this, with a careful bite, there will be many empty hooks from which the live bait is eaten, and the fish is gone, or where it is dented, fell asleep, and the fish spat it out, feeling the hooks. But it can be made from a very small piece of pipe, from a hose, and such homemade products take up little space in the bag.
Another important quality of the girders is that they can be easily found on the ice. It happens that it is already dark outside, a blizzard has risen. It will be difficult for an angler with a flashlight to find a stick laid across the hole when both of them are covered with snow. At the same time, it will be much easier to find a folded flag protruding above the ice, or a slingshot vent.
There are other live bait winter gear that are not always designed for pike fishing. For example – admission. They are made in the form of short pieces of fishing line with two or three hooks on leashes and are designed to catch fish from the bottom. A live bait or other attachment for a predator is mounted on the hooks. Predator – burbot, pike perch, perch. It is they who take the nozzle directly from the bottom much more often, the pike prefers live bait in half water. The classic approach is a pole stuck into the hole to the very bottom, to the lower edge of which a fishing line with hooks and nozzles is tied.
It is easy to find such a burbot vent even after a snowfall – the stake will stick out and you can see it well. There is no problem with ice crust. The hole can initially be covered with a thick layer of snow, and if it freezes completely, the crust can be stirred up with a stake or cut out of the ice without fear of cutting it with a pick. The allowance is left overnight and checked in the morning; the bait for them is usually a ruff, which is caught all day. The one that does not go to live bait – goes to the ear.
Equipment of the girders
Both summer and ice fishing vents need equipment. Be sure to put a leash for the zherlitsa on the pike, as it is able to bite even a thick fishing line. Use tungsten and wire. It is also necessary to install the equipment with at least one swivel. With it, it is much easier to get the fish into the hole, the fishing line will not twist when playing and will be less confused. Live bait is planted on one or two hooks. It must be planted by the lip, as the pike swallows it from the head. The second one, if any, is inserted at the base of the anal fin without damaging the internal organs. All sorts of ways, when the leash is threaded through the gills of the live bait, lead to the fact that he will fall asleep very quickly. Gills are a very important vital organ of a fish.
It is also worth warning about the use of traps for pike, other traps that do not use hooks. All of them are illegal and poaching ways of fishing. The number of bites on them is the same as on the hook, but there are many times more crippled fish that did not fall into the hands of the angler. It is almost certain that the pike that gets off the trap dies. And she can get off the usual zherlitsa and after a couple of hours get caught again.
Production and refinement of a zherlitsy with a flag
The best version of the girders is on a wide base with a flag. He’s proven and reliable. You can make it yourself, even if it does not seem too complicated. All parts are made of plastic. Nothing needs to be done from the tree, it gets wet from the water and freezes over, as a result, the vent becomes heavy. The ice in the bag after fishing from it will begin to melt, and the fisherman’s things will be all in the water.
For the base, a sufficiently thick plastic is taken – a round or square piece. The base from a broken electric kettle, other parts of electrical appliances are well suited. All of them should not fall into the hole, that is, be larger than it. A coil stand and a flag are attached to the base. It is convenient to make a rack from a piece of thin 16 mm polypropylene plastic pipe.
It can be made removable, for this a hole is made in the base, a self-tapping screw with a washer can be screwed into the rack from below, with which it will be pressed against the groove in the base, there may be other options. A slot is made at the base through which you can start the fishing line so that it is lowered exactly in the middle of the hole. So it will be difficult for the pike to turn the zherlitsa.
The coil is attached to the rack. It can be either a small wire reel or a reel from any fishing line on the bracket. It is important that it has a fairly easy ride and sufficient clearances between the axle. It is advisable to lubricate this place very well with solid oil so that it does not allow water to enter under the axle. The water will not freeze, the coil will not jam and everything will work well.
The flag is attached in such a way that it tightens the reel and prevents the live bait from winding the fishing line. For the base of the flag, a long twisted or flat clock spring is taken. You can use an old broken construction tape, there is also a good record, however, it quickly rusts and can break when used. It is very important that the vent itself has a dark color. It will be clearly visible on light ice and snow, it will be easy to find. Flags must be bright. It is best to see burgundy and cherry flags on white snow, orange and bright red flags are less visible, especially in a snowstorm.
Refinement of purchased models
Much more often, the angler has to deal with the refinement of purchased vents. These are used more often than homemade ones. They are not expensive, they work better than most homemade ones. And if you figure out that you will have to buy material for home-made ones, the choice is completely obvious, purchased for a fisherman who just wants a working tackle, and not a tackle made by these hands, will be the best choice.
But they are not always immediately usable. Often there is a marriage after molding plastic, a burr. All this must be cleaned with sandpaper or a file so that the fishing line does not cling to anything. The coil often has an unreliable fastening. Sometimes it is necessary to replace the axle, install a lock nut so that nothing by itself unscrews. It is almost impossible to find a lost nut in a thick snowdrift. Flags are most often tried to be glued so that they do not fall off the spring. Usually they are simply stitched, sometimes of poor quality, and when biting, they can fly off freely when jerked. Glue with epoxy or frost-resistant glue.
It is advisable to lubricate the coil axis itself with a large amount of grease. It will not only improve the smoothness of the ride, but also protect the gap between the axle from water getting there. But you should be careful, grease corrodes some old fishing lines, such as nylon. It is better to do everything in moderation and try not to make it so that it is on the entire surface of the reel, including the line groove. Sometimes you need to attach a handle to the reel to rotate it. But you can do much better – drill a hole in it in the rim so that you can rotate it with your index finger. The same hole is convenient to use in order to hook a hook from the vent to it.
There are some other improvements to the purchased vents – correcting the curve of the rack above the gas, fixing the flag spring in the base-insert with glue, lengthening or shortening the flag, etc. The main thing is to apply a little effort so that the tackle works perfectly, and then fishing will bring pleasure even at low cost.